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Family Policies Across the Globe

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This chapter analyzes family policies across the globe, describing patterns in the development of family allowances, leave schemes, and ECEC services both in developed and developing regions. Using the OECD family database and the ILO global social protection database, it compares the developments in family policy across different regions. The chapter reveals that the way regions and countries in the world have followed the main goals of family policy varies significantly, not only in terms of coverage and quality, but also in terms of design and context of implementation. Despite the efforts made in developing regions are still limited and rarely based on the idea of a universal set of interrelated transfers and services, there is still room for them to learn from the experience of the leaders in family policy.
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10
Family Policies Across the Globe
Fernando Filgueira and Cecilia Rossel
Family policies encompass actions aimed at supporting families and regu-
lating family life. In a broad sense, policies that affect family life and that
can support families can and do cover many areas of public policy.1We focus
here on three main areas of family policy: income support for families with
children, early childhood education and care (ECEC) and maternity, pater-
nity and parental leave (see Chapter 2by Daly in this volume). We zero
in on family policies that seek to support families especially during the first
years after childbirth. In addition, and more recently, some of these policies
also aim to modify private family relationships and, more specifically, how
maternity and paternity are lived by societies (Lewis, 1992; Saraceno, 2018;
Thévenon, 2011). Despite this general orientation, the way and extent to
which different countries have followed these goals varies significantly across
1Many policies that are not meant to address explicitly family issues can a do have provisions that
affect families. Policies in education (for example providing meal services and extending the length of
the school day), health (i.e. suppressing co-payment in maternal and early childhood health checkups
and interventions), housing (preference in provision of public housing or special interests rates in
housing credit aimed at families with children), and even macroeconomic policies (joint or separate
taxation schemes) affect family life.
F. Filgueira
Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
C. Rossel (B)
Universidad Católica del Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay
e-mail: cecilia.rossel@ucu.edu.uy
© The Author(s) 2020
R. Nieuwenhuis and W. Van Lancker (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Family Policy,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54618- 2_10
219
220 F. Filgueira and C. Rossel
countries and regions in the world. In particular, issues such as coverage and
quality, but also design and context of implementation vary significantly.
Moreover, countries with very similar development levels might present very
different patterns in terms of fiscal efforts regarding family allowances, work
leaves, and child care services.
We analyze family policies across the globe, describing patterns in the
development of family allowances, leave schemes, and ECEC services both
in developed and developing regions. To guarantee fair comparisons between
regions, whenever possible our analysis is based on the OECD family
database and the ILO global social protection database. However, we also
provide further insights using regional data sets and literature focusing on
the analysis of family policies in different regions.
Both the literature stemming from the economics of families (Becker,
1981) as well as the literature inspired in the idea of a needs-based/culturally
led second demographic transition (Lesthaeghe, 2010; van de Kaa, 2001)
posit that as countries develop and enter the post-industrial economy, the
sharp divide between the roles of men and women and the traditional nuclear
married family should give way to a more fragmented and unstable family
landscape and to dual earner households. In addition, such changes should
push fertility rates later in calendar and below replacement levels.
Regarding developing countries, this literature would predict a movement
toward replacement level fertility and an expansion of the nuclear male
breadwinner family. This is due to the changing role, power and prefer-
ences of women and to the decreasing efficiency and required functions of
extended households in industrial societies, for instance because the state
extends polices to support the economic autonomy of the elderly popula-
tion. If cultural trends continue to move toward more secular and individual
self- realization, and if the educational level and labor market involvement
of women grows and their control over reproductive choice is secured,
these theories would predict a decline in “doing family (i.e. later nuptiality,
increased divorce rates, later and lower fertility, or even childishness). While
moderately accurate in the past, these theories are increasingly confronted
with empirical trends that make such claims problematic, since the new equi-
librium seems to vary quite importantly by region and welfare regime type.
While some European countries present close to replacement level fertility
and have also seen a recent diminishing rate of divorce and moderate expan-
sion of nuptiality, in the industrialized countries of East Asia fertility rates
are at the low/low frontier or below and childless women have increased
markedly. In sum, while some regions seem to move to the limit of undoing”
family others seem to remain rather robust at such practice.
10 Family Policies Across the Globe 221
Latin America high income countries show a sharp decrease in fertility
but one that is slow to converge across social classes suggesting an increasing
bipolar pattern in reproduction and one that does not fit easily with either
theory. While the very low fertility of the upper middle classes could
follow from Becker-type and second demographic transition arguments, the
persistence of high and especially early fertility among low income families
together with their highly unstable and fragmented nature is problematic.
Also contrary to theory, the region shows highly informal family arrange-
ments and increasing instability and fragmentation in the types of families
across all social classes.
Partly what is missing in the theories predicting such outcomes is the
importance of family policies and how such policies might lead to very
different “equilibriums regarding family types, nuptiality and divortiality,
fertility and the role of men and women within. While this chapter makes
no attempt to solve this puzzle, it does provide a wide comparative descrip-
tive assessment of family policies as a first step tackle some of such empirical
trends and puzzles.
In the next section we focus on the demographic changes in family struc-
tures and its relationship with different configurations in state policies toward
families with small children. Then, the main features of the European expe-
rience in family policies are presented. The following sections describe the
development of family allowances, work leaves, and ECEC services in other
regions of the world—both developed and developing—comparing them
to the European countries. The final section presents concluding remarks
regarding the main challenges related to the consolidation of these policies
across the globe.
Demographic Stages, Economic Development,
and Family Policy
Fertility rates have been dropping consistently around the world for the last
25 years. With the exception of the most developed countries (European
Union) where fertility has slightly bounced back after hitting their lowest
mark by the end of the twentieth century, the middle income and upper
middle-income countries of the developing world are converging toward
replacement level fertility (Fig. 10.1).
This, combined with an aging population (which implies less women in
fertile ages and more elderly in the total population) will translate into a lower
proportion of children and teenagers. Except for sub-Saharan Africa, where
222 F. Filgueira and C. Rossel
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Central Europe and the Balcs East Asia & Pacific
European Union Lan America & Caribbean
Middle East & North Africa North America
South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa
Fig. 10.1 Evolution of fertility rates by region, 1992–2015 (Source Prepared by the
authors based on World Bank Open Data, updated 2016. Regions in the figure follow
the definition of the World Bank Open Data Bank)
the population is still very young and aging has not advanced, the proportion
of children has dropped quite dramatically and will continue do so in almost
all regions.
Overall, it can be stated without much doubt that, as emerging and
developing countries grow, fertility rates will continue to decline, the propor-
tion of elderly will continue to increase and the proportion of children
in the overall population will decrease (up until a certain point). Depen-
dency ratios will also decrease in most regions of the world. This opens a
window of demographic opportunity, since there is room for more social and
economic investment in smaller child cohorts when fertility drops and the
elderly are not yet a larger share of the population. Thus, similar levels of
overall spending in children could imply quite different per-capita spending.
Furthermore, since overall dependency ratios will go down, there should be
economic and fiscal space to further increase spending per-child.
It is good news that the “window of demographic opportunity” will be
opened for decades in countries that is behind in the aging process and in
the reduction of fertility rates. However, the correlation between overall social
spending and child social spending is markedly weaker. Child spending seems
to be quite low in regions undergoing such stages of the demographic transi-
tion. Overall social protection spending does increase with higher GDP, but
that is mainly due to elderly spending rather than spending on children.
10 Family Policies Across the Globe 223
0.4
2.2
0.7 0.8 0.7 0.8
0.2 0.2
29.6
16
19.4
15.2
27.9
32.1
26.5
42
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
World Western
Europe
North
America
Central &
Eastern
Europe
LaƟn
America &
the
Caribbean
Middle
East
Asia & the
Pacic
Africa
Public social protecƟon expenditure for children (excluding health)
Share of children 0–14 in total populaƟon
Fig. 10.2 Public expenditure on child benefits by region, and proportion of children
aged 0–14 in total population, 2010/11 (percentage of GDP) (Source Prepared by the
authors based on International Labour Organization [ILO], World Social Protection
Report 2014/15 Building economic recovery, inclusive development and social justice,
Geneva, ILO, p. 14)
In fact, while Western Europe does show a strong positive difference in
terms of children’s spending even when their proportion of children is low, in
the rest of the world’s regions spending seems to have either no relation with
the proportion of children, or even be inversely-related (Fig. 10.2) (Filgueira
& Rossel, 2017).
Such a pattern is highly problematic. Poorer countries systematically
under-invest in children’s welfare and in doing so they risk losing the
possibility of harvesting the demographic bonus during the window of oppor-
tunity that will come when they lower their fertility rates, since their adult
cohorts will be less productive than if investment had been robust during
their childhood years. Furthermore, since poorer countries are also on average
highly unequal it is quite likely that such under-investment in family policies
will lead to weaker and less efficient forms of family arrangements in lower
income groups since the material basis for stable partnerships will be lacking,2
thus, missing on the gains that could come from such cooperation among
men and women or in same sex marriages and partnerships.
2Lower income families and in general lower income people show earlier entry into marriage or union,
and childbearing and lower stability in family arrangements, thus increasing lone parent households.
224 F. Filgueira and C. Rossel
Family Policy in Europe
Although with significant variations between countries, Europe is the most
demographically advanced region, with low fertility rates and an aging popu-
lation, as well as with high female labor force participation rates (for more
details see Chapter 9by Adema, Clarke, & Thévenon in this volume).
The fiscal effort on family policy in Europe varies both in magnitude and
composition. While the Nordic countries, France, Great Britain, and some
Eastern European countries report levels of spending are above 3% of GDP,
southern Mediterranean countries show levels below 2% of GDP. Composi-
tion also varies among high spenders. Nordic countries systematically show
high spending in childcare services, while others such as Ireland and the
UK focus more on cash transfers. In some countries—as in France and
Germany—tax breaks are also quite important (Adema, Clarke, & Thévenon
in this volume)
Family allowances, tax credits, and other forms of cash transfers to families
with children constitute a major part of the European system of social protec-
tion for children and families. All countries in Europe have some form of
family allowance anchored in national legislation (ILO, 2014). Eligibility for
the most part is wide, either through social insurance mechanisms or through
universal non-contributory systems. In many countries in addition to social
security or even universal benefits additional targeted benefits for poor, needy,
and single parent—usually female—headed families are in place.
Maternity leaves have been in place in Europe for a long time and they are
usually linked to social insurance schemes (ILO, 2014). Leave designs vary
in terms of duration, type of benefit, flexibility, entitlement and conditions
for returning to work. In the Nordic countries (like Norway or Sweden) the
trend has been toward relatively short maternity leaves combined with rela-
tively long parental leave (Allewell & Pull, 2003; Bruning & Plantenga, 1999;
OECD, 2011). The possibility for both parents to use leave and the estab-
lishment of “daddy quotas which can only be used by fathers are important
features in the Nordic design of leaves (Moss & O’Brien, 2006; Ray, Gornick,
& Schmitt, 2008; Adema, Clarke, & Thévenon in this volume).
Early childhood care services are quite developed in large parts of Europe.
The leaders in terms of coverage and quality, both historically and today, are
the Northern European countries, especially the Nordic countries (around
50% or more, with the exception of Finland), though coverage rates for
0–2 years old are also very high in France (Fig. 10.3). Among the Southern
Mediterranean countries, while Portugal and Spain were laggards in the
10 Family Policies Across the Globe 225
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
Denmark
Iceland
Netherlands
Luxembourg
Malta
Belgium
Norway
France
Portugal
Sweden
Slovenia
Spain
Switzerland
Ireland
United Kingdom
Germany
EU average
Cyprus
Lithuania
Finland
Italy
Latvia
Estonia
Austria
CroaƟa
Hungary
Greece
Romania
Bulgaria
Poland
Slovak Republic
Czech Republic
2006 2014
Fig. 10.3 Europe: Participation rates in childcare and pre-school services for 0-to-2-
year-olds, around 2006 and 2014 (Source Prepared by the authors based on OECD
family database Chart PF3.2.A)
early 1990s they have caught up and show coverage rates above the Euro-
pean Union (EU) average in the 2000s. Greece, Italy, and many Eastern
European countries show the lowest coverage rates. Denmark, Iceland, and
Norway, together with Malta and Luxembourg also report smaller gaps in
their coverage rates according to socioeconomic level (OECD, 2019b). In
contrast, despite the high average rates of coverage in Belgium, the Nether-
lands, and France the differences in coverage between the lowest tercile and
highest tercile are stark. This is also the case in some low coverage coun-
tries, though in others coverage is low across socioeconomic levels (OECD,
2019b). Regarding children at older ages—typically between 3 and 4 years
to 5 years old—coverage has become almost universal in most Western and
Eastern European countries, going from an average gross enrolment ratio of
75% to more than 90% (OECD, 2019b).
Still, the variations in Europe in the three different policies that have been
depicted have clear implications in terms of child poverty and how such rates
compare to those of the general population. The Nordic countries present
generous and universal family allowances—in addition to other cash trans-
fers for vulnerable families, by far the most developed systems of family
(maternity, parental and paternity) leaves and widely available ECEC systems
226 F. Filgueira and C. Rossel
(Finland is the exception in use, though not in availability3). The result is the
lowest rates of child poverty, and usually rates that are below to those of the
general population (OECD, 2019a).
In contrast, Southern Mediterranean countries have weak family and child
protection systems. Their weaknesses are not homogeneous. For example,
Portugal has a rather robust leave system in design, yet informality makes
coverage weaker. Spain has developed in the last years an extended ECEC
system, but has one of the least generous family allowance systems in Europe.
Greece, despite the recent expansion of leaves, remains low in most of the
other policy arenas. Italy is a below average performer in the three policy
arenas considered here. Child poverty is among the highest in Europe, and is
always above the poverty rates of the total population.
Family Policy in Other Developed Regions
North America (Canada and the US)
The United States and Canada present rather different demographic profiles.
The US remains a young nation among developed ones and has relatively
high fertility rates (Total Fertility Rate [TFR] 1.76 in 2017, World Bank,
2020a) and medium labor force participation rates by women aged 15–64
(55.7% in 2019, World Bank, 2020b). Canada presents significantly lower
fertility rates (TFR 1.49 in 2017, World Bank, 2020a) and higher female
labor participation (60.65% in 2019, World Bank, 2020b).
These two countries have very different profiles in terms of fiscal efforts
and policies on families and children. The US presents one of the lowest
fiscal efforts compared to other OECD countries regarding public expendi-
ture (1.2% of GDP) and a large part of that effort comes in the form of
tax breaks, not direct cash (Fig. 10.4). Yet, the US presents wide variation in
terms of family policy at the state level (see Chapter 18 by Parolin & Daiger
von Gleichen, and Chapter 17 by Engeman in this volume). Canada’s effort
is not much higher, but a large part of such effort is directed toward cash
transfers in the form of family allowances and maternal and parental leaves.
Most of the US’s cash transfers to families with children come in the form
of tax breaks or special cash transfers for needy or poor families. While the
system in Canada is also means-tested on family income, its coverage is quite
large and it is far more generous than in the United States. The US does
3This is partly explained by the extremely generous leave scheme in Finland where the combination
of benefits maternal, paternal and parental) allows for almost two years of total leave after birth.
10 Family Policies Across the Globe 227
0.1
1.0
0.6
0.2
0.5
0.2
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
adanaCsetatSdetinU
Cash Services Tax-breaks families
Fig. 10.4 CANADA AND UNITED STATES: Public expenditure on family benefits by
type of expenditure, in per cent of GDP, around 2013 (Source Prepared by the authors
based on OECD Family Database, Chart PF1.1.A. Public spending on family benefits)
not have a family allowance system, while Canada has a well-developed one.4
Also, the US stands out as one of the few countries in the world with no
national legislation defining a mandatory paid maternity leave or parental
leaves, although the federal law guarantees job protection for 12 weeks of
unpaid maternity leave. Yet even such a narrow entitlement is hollowed out by
the exemption for employers with less than 50 employees to comply with the
norm. Canada has had maternity leaves anchored in social security starting
in the 1970s, and during the nineties has introduced and increased parental
leave scheme (from paid maternity leave for 17 weeks in 1990 52 weeks of
potential paid maternity leave including both maternity and parental leaves
4Created in 1944 with the family allowances act, the Canadian system continues to reflect its origin
as a universal family allowance program, with subsequent modifications to provide more adequate
and targeted benefits for low income families. These changes have resulted in an increase in benefits
for families with moderate income and a reduction or ending of benefits to higher income families.
The US program was passed quite later and enacted as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC),
which was part of the Tax Reduction Act of 1975. The credit was designed to help the working
poor-families with income below the poverty level despite having working family members. It was
initially authorized for only one year. However, the Revenue Adjustment Act of 1975 extended the
EITC through the 1976 tax year. This seemed to set a precedent and each year the credit became a
part of tax provisions that extended its authorization. It wasn’t until the Revenue Act of 1978 that
the credit became permanent. In 1986, the Tax Reform Act indexed the credit amount and the phase
out levels for inflation. The US program has remained true to its origin, mainly as a tax break or
credit targeted at the poor population. One of the disadvantages of this reliance on yearly tax breaks
rather than monthly payments is that families living close or under the poverty line enter and exit
such a situation throughout the year not on a yearly basis. Thus a monthly payment constitutes an
income floor better adapted to the fluctuations in the vulnerability of families that is better fitted to
the real life of families.
228 F. Filgueira and C. Rossel
in 2016). In real terms, replacement rates for maternity leave and parental
leaves hover around 50% of past earnings on average.
The United States (0.6% of GDP) and Canada (0.2% of GDP) have
relatively low public spending in ECEC. Private services and informal care
dominate the childcare sector in these countries, and the early education
sector is confined to preprimary schooling for children 5–6 years. The
negative consequences of this weak investment by the public authorities
can be seen clearly in the services on offer, in particular, high costs to
parents leading to unequal access and the segregation of children according
to income. Low investment defeats a major purpose of these services and
leads inevitably to low quality of services, lack of sustainability, and child
care shortages. Unavailability of services also raises barriers against women’s
full-time employment and channels women toward low-paid, part-time jobs
(Immervoll & Barber, 2006).
Free of charge or subsidized ECEC is not widely available and show vari-
ation between states and provinces. Coverage is among the lowest across
OECD countries, though not as low as could be expected given its low fiscal
effort. Still they are below the EU average. According to UNESCO data,
gross enrolment rates in the US for preprimary school children aged 3–5
barely reach 70% and in Canada are below 75%. The average for developed
nationsiscloseto87%.
In sum, Canada and the US are different, but both share rather underde-
veloped systems of ECEC. In terms of family allowances and leave policies,
Canada outperforms the US clearly, even though the fiscal effort of Canada
in terms of cash benefits remains one half percentage point below the EU
average as a proportion of GDP. Poverty levels are thus different, but both
countries present child poverty rates above the OECD average and higher
child poverty than poverty in the general population.
Oceania (Australia and New Zealand)
In demographic terms, Australia and New Zealand are advanced nations.
Despite having mostly finished their first demographic transition, they have
never reached the lowest-low fertility scenarios that can be seen in many Euro-
pean countries. The TFR in Australia hover around 1.8 for the latest years,
while the TFR in New Zealand reaches lows of 1.8 and highs of 2.2, quite
above replacement rates. The average TFR for the EU is 1.5. Likewise, while
aging is a clear trend, they remain relatively young” compared to other coun-
tries of similar GDP per-capita. Women’s labor force participation rates are
high, and in many cases higher than European countries.
10 Family Policies Across the Globe 229
1.7 1.9
1.1 0.9
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
New Zealand Australia
Cash Services Tax-breaks for families
Fig. 10.5 OCEANIA (OECD): Public expenditure on family benefits by type of expen-
diture, percentage of GDP, around 2013 (Source Prepared by the authors based on
OECD Family Database, Chart PF1.1.A. Public spending on family benefits)
Both Australia and New Zealand present relatively high levels of spending
on child benefits concentrated on direct cash transfer and to a lesser
extent services, while tax breaks for families with children are non-existent
(Fig. 10.5).
Both countries have systems of family allowances that were inspired by
principles of universality,5but subsequently became means-tested to increase
payments for lower income families. However, they remain high coverage
systems that neither rely on narrow definitions of need, nor on contributory
formal employment. In Australia, almost all families with children can access
family allowance and additional payments for child support.
In the case of Australia, even though cash benefits are named as tax credits,
they are given as direct monthly payment or as a yearly lump sum.6In the
case of New Zealand, targeting is somewhat more stringent and coverage
seems to be a contested issue, as the failed attempt in 2014 to make benefits
flat rate and universal demonstrates.
Consistent with their liberal tradition, Australia and New Zealand did not
have systems of maternity leaves well into the twentieth century. As in the
US, these countries had some form of non-paid maternity leave, but it was
5In the case of New Zealand, it was originally means-tested but as early as the 1940s it was reformed
as a universal system.
6This form of providing benefits solves the problem of low income families losing eligibility, since tax
records and tax abatement are not possible or more complicated to achieve among this population.
230 F. Filgueira and C. Rossel
only in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century that they
developed paid maternity and parental leaves. Australia would only intro-
duce paid maternity and parental leaves in the year 2011 with a total length
of 18 weeks. New Zealand did it somewhat earlier, in 2003, allowing for
12 weeks of maternity leave. They would increase the length of paid mater-
nity leave from that year onwards reaching a total of 18 weeks by 2016. No
paid parental or paternity leaves are available in New Zealand while Australia
introduced two weeks of paid paternity leave as an optional quota of parental
leaves by 2013. Both countries have around 40 weeks of non-paid but job
protected parental leaves.
The replacement rates vary by income level. For mothers—or fathers in the
case of Australia—with earnings that are half of average earnings, replacement
is slightly below full replacement, but as income goes up replacement level
drop to less than 50% of past earnings.
There is no data on take up of leaves provided by the OECD, but the wide
coverage in social security implies wide access to such benefits. According
to a recent report (Growing Up in New Zealand, 2014) as many as 84%
of mothers took a combination of paid maternity, non-paid maternity, and
annual paid leave at the time of birth. Yet it is true that quite low replacement
rates might make upper income women less likely to take such leaves.
ECEC have a relatively more recent development in Australia and New
Zealand than most of Europe, but in contrast to the US and Canada, fiscal
efforts are more robust. When looking at overall coverage at very early ages
(0–2 years old) there is a clear upward trend since the 1990s, reaching and
overall coverage of more than 40% in New Zealand and around 30% in
Australia (Fig. 10.6).
Coverage in preprimary school in Oceania is high with almost universal
coverage for 4 and 5 year-olds, but not for those aged three. For the latter
group, coverage is relatively high in New Zealand, but rather low in Australia.
In sum, Oceania presents an intermediate position regarding child and
family policies when compared with Europe and the North American coun-
tries. While laggards in ECEC and leave policies, and with relatively narrow
coverage in ECEC and limited extension in leaves, they have a strong,
almost universal family allowance system that is also quite generous (more
so in Australia than New Zealand). The impact on child poverty and overall
inequality is positive, making them countries with average levels of poverty
when compared to other similarly developed countries, and levels that are
either similar or slightly higher than those of the general population.
10 Family Policies Across the Globe 231
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Australia New Zealand
Fig. 10.6 OCEANIA (OECD): Enrollment in child care services (children between 0
and 2 years old), 1995–2014 (Source Prepared by the authors based on OECD Family
Database 2017, PF3.2: Enrollment in childcare and pre-school)
Family Policy in Developing Regions
Asia
Asian countries are very heterogeneous regarding fertility, dependency rates,
and life expectancy. East Asian countries, for example, perform similar to
other developing regions, with a relatively low fertility (1.6 children per
women in 2010–2015) and an important decline in dependency ratios in the
last decades (from 71.7 in 1980 to 41.4 in 2011) (Cecchini, 2014). Some East
Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea have levels of fertility that
approach or reach very low levels, with TFR of 1.4 and 1.3 respectively, while
China presents a TFR of 1.6 (for the period 2010–2015) (United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2015). By contrast, other Asian
sub-regions (Southern and Central Asian countries) present fertility rates that
are above 2 and in western Asia rates are almost around 3 children per women
(United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2015).
Targeted cash benefits are used most often in Asia as instrument of
social protection, established largely by central governments. The traditional
child/family benefits are not extensively used, however. For example, only
one-third of the countries (16 out of 48) provide any kind of child or family
allowance, the smallest proportion of all the regions (ILO, 2014).
The two most developed Asian countries with information from the
OECD (Korea and Japan) show moderate spending efforts with quite
different profiles: strong on child care services in Korea, more concentrated
232 F. Filgueira and C. Rossel
on cash transfers in the case of Japan (Fig. 10.7). Still, both of these coun-
tries have notoriously increased child and family protection policies in the
last years partly as a response to lowest fertility scenarios and limited women’s
labor force participation.
The existence of family allowances in Asian countries, with the excep-
tion of Korea and Japan, is rare. Family allowances are only available in
Sri Lanka and payable to the contributing worker rather than to families
(Mokomane, 2012), but several countries have adopted other forms of cash
transfers targeting families with children. There are, however, important vari-
ations across sub-regions. While in Central Asian countries have cash transfers
programs with very limited coverage (Gassmann, 2011), several East Asian
countries have cash transfers programs targeting families with children, most
of them conditioned to school attendance or children’s health check-ups. This
is the case of Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Philippines (Cecchini, 2014;
Kohler, Cali, & Stirbu, 2009). In 2012, Indonesia’s CCT, Program Kelu-
arga Hatapan (PKH), was covering around 1.5 million households (around
2.5% of the country’s total households), while the Philipinian CCT, Pantawid
Pilipino Program, was covering 3 million households (around 15% of total
households) (Cecchini, 2014). Evaluations show some of these programs are
being effective, among other things, in increasing enrolment among younger
children (3–11 years old) and increasing attendance among 6–17 years old
(Chaudhury, Friedman, & Onishi, 2013).
0.8
0.2
0.5
0.9
0.2 0.3
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
KoreaJapan
Cash Services Tax-breaks for families
Fig. 10.7 ASIA (OECD): Public expenditure on family benefits by type of expendi-
ture, in per cent of GDP, 2013 (Source Authors’ elaboration based on OECD Family
Database, Chart PF1.1.A. Public spending on family benefits)
10 Family Policies Across the Globe 233
Although still far from the European parameters, a few Asian countries
offer relatively generous maternity leave policies and several countries have
maternity leave with a duration according to or near ILO’s recommendation.
After reforming its system in 2013, Vietnam stands out as the most generous
country regarding maternity leave, with 6 months (and the possibility of an
extra month if the mother has more than one child) of leave for mother. By
contrast, in Bhutan and Maldives there is no maternity leave anchored to
national legislation.
Some Asian countries (for example, Korea, Japan, Taiwan) have also intro-
duced parental leave policies for relatively long periods and with some kind
of replacement of salaries (Chin, 2012). Considering only Korea and Japan,
Korea provides a more generous scheme in salary replacement through mater-
nity leaves, while Japan offers more paid coverage in the parental leave scheme
than Korea.
Several Asian countries are developing policies to increase accessibility to
childcare services by increasing the number of childcare facilities, as well as
increasing the number of children who are eligible for childcare subsidies
(Chin, 2012). In Korea, between 2001 and 2015 the proportion of children
in those ages that were enrolled in childcare services increased from 3 to 34%,
while in Japan it increased from 22% in 2007 to 30% in 2014 (OECD,
2019c).
Africa
African countries have the highest fertility rates in the world, reaching
an average of 4.7 children per women, and in some sub-regions (middle
Africa, for example) reaching almost 6 children per woman (United Nations,
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2015).
In the last decades, however, North African countries show a declining
trend in fertility, combined with a cultural transformation in marriage and
childbearing practices (Roudi-Fahimi & Mederios Kent, 2007). Also in
the last decades, there has been an increase in women’s participation in
non-agricultural employment (Mokomane, 2012). Despite these trends, in
comparative terms African countries are regions where the family—along
strong traditional patriarchal lines—is a long-established institution and also
the main provider of welfare for individuals in times of crisis or while facing
risks such as unemployment, sickness, or old age (Mokomane, 2012).
As in other developing regions, family allowances in Africa are an excep-
tion and cash benefits for families have adopted the form of cash transfers
to reduce poverty (Adato & Hoddinott, 2007). There are several cash
234 F. Filgueira and C. Rossel
transfer programs in different countries. In some cases, they are conditioned
to certain behaviors (such as sending children to school or vaccination).
Some examples are Burkina Faso’s CCT for Orphans and Vulnerable Chil-
dren, Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP), Nigeria’s
In Care of the People (COPE), Tanzanias Community-Based CCT (CB-
CCT), and Senegal’s Conditional Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable
Children. The maintenance grant in Namibia, for example, is oriented to
guarantee maintenance of children with disabilities and establishes a USD
26 of monthly cash transfer for the first child plus USD 13 per month for
every additional child, up to 6 children (Mokomane, 2012). Although some
CCTs in Africa are implemented nationally and funded mainly by govern-
ments, some CCTs are the result of partnerships between governments and
international donors like the World Bank, UNICEF, the Department for
International Development (DFID) in the UK, and other governmental and
nongovernmental organizations. Also, African CCTs are frequently imple-
mented in regions and relying on community participation (Southern African
Social Protection Experts Network, 2016).
Unconditional transfers have a long history in the region and have their
roots in the South African pension system introduced in the 1920s to protect
basically the minority white population (Mokomane, 2011). Indeed, the
earliest unconditional cash programs in Sub-Saharan Africa were old age
pensions established in South Africa (1928), Namibia (1949), and Mauritius
(1958) (Mokomane, 2012). However, with the exception of Mauritius and
South Africa, they do not specifically target families with children (Niño-
Zarazua, Barrientos, Hulme, & Hickey, 2010). The most relevant policy here
is the South African Child support grant, which has proven to have signifi-
cant impacts on children’s nutrition and height (Agüero, Carter, & Woolard,
2006,2007).
Maternity leaves in Africa are mainly of the contributory type (this is, part
of the basic social insurance scheme), and apply to a minority of salaried
workers (Mokomane, 2012). Therefore, although maternity leave is compre-
hensively available in most African countries, this benefit applies only to a
minority covered by social security as salaried workers. Also, only a few coun-
tries adopted ILO’s recommended of 14 weeks or more (Mokomane, 2011)
(Fig. 10.8).
Only three countries (Mauritius, Uganda, and Tanzania) recognize pater-
nity leave formally. In the rest of the countries, there is either a special
multi-purpose leave provision which could potentially be used by fathers as
paternity leave (Mokomane, 2011) or no legislation at all.
10 Family Policies Across the Globe 235
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
South Africa
Tunisia
Congo
Algeria
Benin
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Congo, Democrac R epublic of
Côte d'Ivoire
Djibou
Gabon
Guinea
Libya
Madagascar
Mali
Mauritania
Morocco
Niger
Senegal
Seychelles
Somalia
Togo
Angola
Kenya
Botswana
Burundi
Equatorial Guinea
Gambia
Ghana
Lesotho
Maurius
Namibia
Nigeria
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Swaziland
Tanzania, United Republic of
Zambia
Uganda
Malawi
Sudan
Zimbabwe
Egypt
Ethiopia
Liberia
Cabo Verde
Eritrea
Guinea-Bissau
Mozambique
Sao Tome and Principe
Fig. 10.8 AFRICA (selected countries): Length of maternity leave (in weeks), circa
2014 (Source Prepared by the authors based on International Labour Organization
(ILO), World Social Protection Report 2014/15 Building economic recovery, inclusive
development and social justice, Geneva, ILO)
Middle East
In Middle Eastern countries, womens participation in the labor force partic-
ipation is low and the development of family policy is limited (O’Brien,
2012). In fact, although there is variation across countries, social policy for
families has “tended to reflect and reinforce the patriarchal gender contract”
(Moghadam, 2005, p. 38).
While in these countries families remain as the key provider for care
and economic support, there have been some developments regarding family
policies. In the last few decades, several countries have established non-
contributory benefits. These are mainly cash transfer programs, some of them
targeted to families that have lost their breadwinner or do not have one
(e.g. orphans, widows, divorced women, or even women who are single after
a certain age). However, there is still relatively low coverage of poor and
vulnerable working families with children (Machado, Bilo, Veras Soares, &
Guerreiro Osorio, 2018).
In contrast to what happens in other regions such as Latin America, most
cash transfer programs are unconditional and frequently followed by in-kind
transfers, such as food distribution and fuel subsidies (Machado et al., 2018)
236 F. Filgueira and C. Rossel
Compared to African countries, Middle Eastern countries seem to be
more advanced in the development of preprimary education. As shown in
Fig. 10.9, enrolment in pre-primary education in some of these countries
shows a growth trend.
Although there are no available statistics of enrolment in children under 2
years old, the coverage is expected to be much lower. Also, in several coun-
tries, employers are obliged to provide childcare facilities dependent on the
number of female employees (O’Brien, 2012).
The development of work-related leaves in the region is still incipient and
mostly relying on the benefits offered through public sector employment
(Kabeer, Ashwini, & Ragui, 2019). However, some countries (Egypt and
Dubai, for example) have recently introduced changes to their legislation to
either reach the minimum international standard or give women working in
the private sector the same rights of those enjoyed by public sector employees.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1999 2015
Fig. 10.9 MIDDLE EAST (selected countries): Enrollment in pre-primary education
(3–5 years old), 1999 and 2015 (Source Prepared by the authors based on data from
UNESCO/UIS)
10 Family Policies Across the Globe 237
Latin America
Most Latin American countries have experienced a decrease in mortality and
fertility rates, as well as an increase in life expectancy. As a result, the region’s
population is aging and households are becoming smaller. At the same time,
changes in divorce and nuptial patterns (with an increase of people living
together without being married and a decrease in formal family arrange-
ments) translate directly into changes in the shape of families (Arriagada,
2004; Rico & Maldonado, 2011).
Also, the region has gone through the massive incorporation of women
into the labor market. Increases in womens participation in the labor market
contribute to a “care crisis”, due to pressures that are being experienced by
families and particularly by women because of the combination of paid work
outside their homes and demands for care of children and other dependents
(Rico, 2011). This crisis is due to the pattern of the unequal distribution
of unpaid work between men and women, which are very stratified by
socioeconomic variables (CEPAL, 2010; Espejo, Filgueira, & Rico, 2010).
The only two countries for which comparable OECD data on overall
spending on children and family was available, Chile and Mexico present low
spending levels in the international landscape. Compared to Mexico, Chile’s
effort is larger—similar to the cases of low investment in other OECD coun-
tries—and balanced between cash transfers and care services. Mexico’s effort
is lower than almost all other OECD countries. Even spending on cash trans-
fers to children and families with children is quite low, despite the fact that
it has one of the largest CCT programs in Latin America.
A recent study carried out at the Economic Commission for Latin America
and the Caribbean (ECLAC) (Tromben & Podestá, 2019) attempts for the
first time to apply the OECD methodology to estimate family spending in
nine countries in the region, including Chile and Mexico. The results show
that the region falls clearly behind OECD levels of spending regarding mone-
tary transfers with an average of 0.4% of GDP against the OECD average
of 1.2 and European Union average of 1.5 (this includes contributory and
non-contributory direct transfers, estimated pay on maternity, paternity, and
parental leaves and fiscal credits to families with children). Only Argentina
reaches levels that are slightly below the OECD average with 1.1% of GDP.
Honduras, Guatemala, Perú, and Costa Rica spend 0.2% or less of their GDP
in these transfers while Chile, México, and the Dominican Republic spend
between 0.4 and 0.7% of their GDP (Tromben & Podestá, 2019).
238 F. Filgueira and C. Rossel
Most of Latin America did not have a system of family allowances such as
the ones that in the post war period swept through most of Europe. Excep-
tions in this sense are Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile, which developed early
systems of non-targeted yet contributory family allowances, similar to the
systems anchored in social security in Europe. The lower rates of formality
implied of course lower coverage rates. Other countries developed some
form of contributory family allowance in the second half of the twentieth
century, but this was usually restricted to small groups of workers (miners
in Bolivia, state employees in Venezuela, and other categories around the
region). Colombia presents a particular case where family allowances exist
in the formal sector but targeted to low income formal workers with chil-
dren. Even when some of these systems increased contributory coverage with
time, the lack of a strong formal workforce hindered coverage, especially of
the poorer sectors of society.
The region would have to wait for the wave of mean-tested conditional
cash transfers programs for families with children to really reach part or most
of the poor and those working in vulnerable sectors. Some programs are quite
stringent and aim at covering the poorest of the poor. But many have moved
beyond such narrow coverage and cover today an important proportion of
families with children (Fig. 10.10). Most of them have some conditionality
attached to eligibility, usually regarding children educational attendance and
health check-ups and vaccination.
The value of conditional cash transfers also varies significantly across coun-
tries. Looking at the basic benefit for families with children such values go
from close to USD 100 per-children to less than USD 20 (monthly transfers)
(Cecchini & Atuesta, 2017). In some countries, such as Ecuador, the value of
the benefit is for the whole family and does not increase with number of chil-
dren. In other countries, such as Uruguay, the values increase at a slower rate
by number of children. Most countries have a maximum limit in terms of
eligibility for additional child transfers no matter if they have more children.
Once they reach the ceiling no additional benefit is granted.
International organizations have played a significant role in promoting
the expansion of CCTs in the region (Borges, 2018; Osorio Gonnet, 2019).
Although investment in CCTs has grown since 1996 (Cecchini & Atuesta,
2017), the fact that many CCTs lack support in national laws, or when
they have, lack criteria for funding and indexation, makes such systems
more volatile than other social protection policies. Even if frequently they
have gained legitimacy and have survived government changes, the recent
economic downturn seems to be having a clear detrimental effect on the
10 Family Policies Across the Globe 239
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Fig. 10.10 Coverage of individuals in households targeted by CCTs, around 2015.
(percentage of total population) (Source Simone Cecchini and Bernardo Atuesta
(2017) ‘Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Coverage and Investment Trends’. Social Policy Series 224. ECLAC)
fiscal priority of these programs in a number of countries. In sum, a ques-
tion remains around the extent to which these programs are to become a
stable feature of a rights-based welfare architecture.
All countries in the region have statutory maternity leave policies.
However, there is variation in terms of length and most countries offer
less than the 14 weeks established by the ILO. Honduras is probably the
most emblematic case, but the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, and Nicaragua all provide 12 weeks or less.
Only nine countries (Panama, Costa Rica, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela,
Colombia, Chile and Uruguay) provide 14 weeks or more. Chile is a note-
worthy case in the region, with a 24-week maternity leave approved in
2011.
Data on payment rates of maternity leaves is a bit more encouraging:
most Latin American countries offer 100% replacement rates, although in
some cases this doesn’t necessarily apply to the entire period. But the most
important deficit in Latin America’s maternity and parental leaves is still basic
coverage. In Latin America, maternity leaves are still limited or non-existent
for particular sectors, even if formal, like domestic workers, subcontracted,
and temporal workers. As a result, the proportion of employed women that
240 F. Filgueira and C. Rossel
actually use the maternity leave benefit is relatively low. Furthermore, given
the high level of informality and the fact that almost no system includes
informal workers most systems of maternity and parental leaves are restricted
to a small proportion of working mothers.
Flexibility is another dimension in which Latin America presents limited
progress, with scarce options for women on when the leave can be taken or
how it can be combined with part-time jobs. An exception to this is Chile
where the new post-natal leave allows women to use until 18 weeks and go
back to work in a part-time scheme, until the child is 30 weeks old.
Parental leaves are really an exception in Latin America (OIT, ONU-
Mujeres, & PNUD, 2012; Pautassi & Rico, 2011). To date, only three
countries have parental schemes, included within the maternity leaves. Cuba
offers a 9 months’ unpaid maternity/paternity leave both to mothers or
fathers after the statutory maternity leave. Chile offers mothers with the possi-
bility to transfer the benefit to fathers after the 7th week after childbirth and
for a maximum period of 3 months. In 2013, Uruguay instituted a shareable
full paid parental leave that allows either parent to work half-days until the
child is six months old (Rossel, Filgueira, & Rico, 2015).
According to ECLAC, in 2009 Latin Americas net enrollment in care
services for children between 0 to 3 years old was around 5% (in Guatemala,
Honduras, Dominican Republic, Paraguay) and 20% (in Cuba and Mexico).
The net enrollment rate for children between 3–6 years old was much higher,
but only in Cuba and Mexico reaches levels that are near universal. Brazil,
Uruguay, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, and Panama present enrollment levels
of around 60 and 70% (CEPAL, 2011; Rossel et al., 2015).
A recent study published by ECLAC shows that enrollment in ages 3–5 has
grown significantly in the last decade. In 2014, the average coverage for eight
countries was 64.6%. The national coverage of ECEC services for 3–5 years
reached 86% in Uruguay, 79% in Brazil, 77% in Chile, 72% in Mexico, 64%
in Peru, and 61% in Colombia. Even countries with a very limited coverage
in 2009, like Honduras, presented a modest growth in 2014 (37.6%). Also,
enrollment in child care services is highly stratified by socioeconomic level
(the high-income population is the one with higher access to services, while
lower income sectors present significantly lower attendance rates) and by the
urban/rural cleavage (with less coverage in rural areas) (CEPAL, 2017).
The design of child care services in Latin America is quite varied,
combining public facilities with private services or services provided by civil
society organizations, usually subsidized with state funding (Martínez Bordón
& Soto de la Rosa, 2013; Vegas & Santibáñez, 2010). In the last decade,
10 Family Policies Across the Globe 241
countries like Mexico, Chile, and Uruguay have expanded child care infras-
tructure, improving the availability of services for children between 0 and 3
years old (Staab, 2010).
In addition to varying coverage rates, the quality of ECEC services in the
region is highly varied. The scarce evidence on the subject suggests a high
heterogeneity and persistent precariousness in many countries, concentrated
mostly in rural areas and in low socioeconomic contexts (Araujo, López Boo,
& Puyana, 2013; Vegas & Santibáñez, 2010).
Conclusion
Compared to pension systems, health care and health insurance, and formal
education, family policies are relatively more recent, have a wider variety of
institutional settings and usually carry less weight in the fiscal effort of states.
Yet it is also true that these policies have grown significantly both in developed
as in developing countries.
There are at least two reasons why this trend takes place. First, there is
increasing scientific evidence regarding the importance and efficiency of early
investment in children promoting their capabilities and protecting them from
risks and vulnerability. While children have no vote, knowledge has helped
making their case to a larger extent than before. Development will happen
through human capabilities and human innovation. And increasingly the
scientific community and the policy paradigm are agreeing that the foun-
dation of such capabilities takes place between gestation and the first 4–5
years of life. Still, despite such increasingly positive and strong consensus, the
efforts fall short in most cases leaving an important part of small children
unprotected. Second, the increasing incorporation of women into the labor
market and the relatively frozen landscape regarding male incorporation into
domestic chores and care implies that at some point the state would need to
enter into the equation organizing services and creating policies that allow for
the balancing act of paid and unpaid work that women face day in and day
out. Leaves and ECEC are very much led by family changes and demands.
In some cases, this takes place without state involvement. Enterprises and
markets provide the basis for leaves (through firm-related leave arrangements
for families with a newborn) and early childhood care (through private child-
care facilities). But such a solution is usually fragmented, insufficient and
does not reach the large group of women who cannot access such market
solutions, or who are not employed by enterprises granting time of work for
family and child care. As shown by Adema, Clarke, and Thévenon in this
242 F. Filgueira and C. Rossel
volume (Chapter 9), in the case of OECD countries many of these policies
were meant to avoid a very low fertility scenario. In many countries in Eastern
Europe as well as in Japan and Korea major hikes to transfers and leaves
have taken place with precisely this goal in mind. Despite a major economic
malaise affecting the Southern Mediterranean countries, it is possible to see in
these countries increasing efforts to strengthen family policies and childcare
protection.
The recent experience from the leaders in family policies offers an oppor-
tunity for developing regions. Regarding family allowances and cash benefits,
European countries have moved toward expanding the coverage but also
the generosity of transfers. They have also created specific benefits for lone-
parents (but see Chapter 13 by Nieuwenhuis & Madonado in this volume).
Regarding work leaves, European countries have expanded both length (way
further than the 14 weeks recommended by ILO) and the generosity of paid
benefits, sometimes merging maternity and paternity/parental leave schemes.
Also, some countries have increased flexibility in leave policies, allowing for
more workers to take them and use them for a longer period. “Daddy quotas”
have become an increasingly common innovation in European leave systems.
Regarding child care services, European countries have significantly expanded
coverage both by increasing the number of hours services are available and
the population they are open to (for example, expanding the eligibility criteria
to children under 2 years old). They have also installed the importance of
encompassing coverage expansion with improvements in service quality, to
guarantee that attendance to child care services translate into the expected
beneficial outcomes in child development.
Laggards in leaves such as the liberal countries have advanced in creating
a modest leave system with the exception of the United States, while they
have also moved ahead in coverage and quality in ECEC. Regarding family
allowances, the picture is more mixed. Some universal systems have become
more targeted (not narrowly, but targeted nonetheless), but in general they
have also protected or even increased value. More clear laggards were the
Asian developed countries of Korea and Japan. These countries have made
major strides in catching up with their western counterparts in ECEC and
leaves. The rest of Asia remains underdeveloped in all three policy areas,
though some leave systems have advanced and CCT programs do exist in
a limited number of countries.
In developing regions, the last 15 years showed major advances in all the
areas that we considered throughout this chapter. Monetary transfers to fami-
lies with children, extended leaves for mothers and larger coverage in many
cases, and albeit more modestly, early childhood care and education are part
10 Family Policies Across the Globe 243
of the agenda and in some cases a policy reality. Yet what seems to be lacking
in these regions are three critical aspects that are required for sustainability
and effectiveness: (1) rarely are these policies based on the idea of a universal
set of interrelated transfers and services; (2) overall, the fiscal effort in most
of these policies remains modest and the economic downturn of the last years
might have a very negative impact on them; (3) the impact of these policies
on inequality and poverty so far has remained limited.
Family policy can play—if established generously and of reasonable
quality—a major role in increasing social investment for society at large and
in decreasing inequality and vulnerability for children and young families.
They operate in a critical period where families are most vulnerable and when
children are developing their basic cognitive functions. Of course, not all
spending in children and families will get the job done. If family allowances
and leaves remain limited to formal workers and if ECEC are of bad quality
the promise will not be fulfilled. Universal good quality transfers and services
are needed, or at least services and transfers that reach both the lower income
groups and the middle classes so as to guarantee access to those most in need
and reasonable quality.
Developing countries have a long road ahead if they want to transform
what today is an embryo of a family and childcare protections system into
a full-blown pillar of their social states. Fiscal costs will be important, but
the long run benefits in human capabilities, productivity and equality far
outweigh the fiscal costs of setting such system up.
Acknowledgment The main contents of the chapter are based on our previous
publication Filgueira and Rossel (2017)Social protection for families and early child-
hood through monetary transfers and care worldwide,preparedforandfundedby
the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Project “Social
Protection System and Inequality”.
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... To do so, they rely on governments to provide various forms of support. Family policies allow caregivers to achieve a healthy balance between work and home life, providing time, resources and services (Daly et al., 2015;Filgueira & Rossel, 2020). They also ensure a strong early start ...
... For example, maternity, paternity, and parental leave are used as a pro-natal tool (Thomas et al., 2022), and a tool to correct gender imbalances (Chopra & Krishnan, 2019). Also, governments tend to spend more on childcare services when fertility rates are low (Filgueira & Rossel, 2020). ...
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There have been significant changes in the population and society in China over recent decades. The birth rate has declined, and the population has aged. The average family size shrank from 3.1 people in 2010 to 2.8 in 2022[i], and the one-child policy has been reversed. Urbanization, rural-urban migration and the growth of the informal sector have changed how people live and work. Gender inequality persists, with women frequently facing discrimination and barriers to employment. All these changes have implications for family policy – statutory policies and government-led programmes that aim to improve conditions for adult family members, particularly those caring for children up to the age of 18. A new report, ‘Reimaging Social Policies to Support Families in China’ by UNICEF synthesizes the context and challenges of family policies in China and reviews over 180 evaluations of family policies worldwide. The report highlights case studies of policies that could be adapted and incorporated into family policy in China, and it identifies implications for designing and implementing innovative policy.
... Family policies are the foundation for thriving communities and countries and are key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Parents play a key role in creating a nurturing home environment that supports healthy growth for their children, and family policies allow caregivers to achieve a healthy balance between work and home life (Daly et al., 2015;Filgueira & Rossel, 2020). The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989) calls on states to "render appropriate assistance to parents and legal guardians in the performance of their childrearing responsibilities and ensure the development of institutions, facilities, and services for the care of children" . ...
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... Gauthier's book (1996) remains the definitive comparative in-depth study of the diverse origins and trajectories of family policy in the countries that now belong to the group of rich, democratic welfare states. Comparative studies with a Latin-American (Blofield and Martinez Franzoni 2015;Blofield and Touchton 2020), East-Asian (Fleckenstein and Lee 2017;Saraceno 2016), and even a global focus (Filgueira and Rossel 2020) have started to appear, but for the most part, ignore the historical roots of the policies they study. We provide the first global analysis of the origins of family policy, systematically testing established theories and propositions. ...
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This volume presents a wide-ranging analysis of the emergence and worldwide diffusion of social policies. Social policy diffusion is analyzed in varying fields—affecting all aspects of life—namely, old age and survivor pensions, labor and labor markets, health and long-term care, education and training, and family and gender policy. Based on policy field-specific theoretical approaches, the authors of this volume investigate how the global diffusion of social policy occurs through different network dimensions. In this perspective, networks of global trade, colonial history, similarity in culture, and spatial proximity are regarded as “pipe structures,” or structural backbones, of the diffusion process. It is the first volume that explicitly follows this macro-quantitative perspec- tive on network diffusion of different social policies on a global scale and over a long historical period, beginning in 1880. Each study applies the same method of network-diffusion event history analysis and predicts the diffusion process for the same set of networks in order to make these processes comparable. Moreover, diffusion of each policy is highlighted by its spatial–temporal patterns in global maps. This volume therefore provides a comprehensive overview of the development of modern social policies.
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Book
This study collects and systematizes detailed, updated and comparable information about the design, management, funding and quality of child development services in Latin America and the Caribbean. It focuses on two types of programs serving children from 0 to 3 years of age and their families: (a) those that provide child care through institutional and community modalities and (b) parenting programs. Through a varied set of interventions, the two types of programs studied aim to make an impact on the environment of care that children are exposed to during a particularly vulnerable period of their lives.
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